Zapnito Advisor Insight: Chris Lowe's story

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Please tell us a little bit about yourself

Grew up in midlands then moved to Southampton for University in 1990. I actually studied History because it was the least amount of hours and freed up my time to DJ, which I did a lot of / as well as organise raves/events. I now do quite a lot for the university - they’re big on AI and robotics.
Like every young man, I moved to London, lived on a friend’s toilet floor. Started a data-entry job, servicing a stock broker in the city. Learned a bit about stocks and then managed to engineer a banking job at BZW & then UBS, doing Corporate Broking & working on Vodafone and United News & Media accounts, to name but a few.
I knew tech was taking off, especially in Scandinavia, so as a single man – with a love of Nordic women – I took a role at Thomson (that became Thomson Reuters) where I discovered Nokia and Ericsson (which became biggest companies in the world in 2000-2001) when I advised them.
With these tech clients en tow - JP Morgan came calling for a SPECIALIST SALES TECH role in 2001, but then Morgan Stanley, where the first 7 years were very Wolf of Wall Street. I lasted until 2011.

UK tech called, especially the Silicon Roundabout world and led to me setting up a start-up with a Hedge Fund Manager friend. We exited after 12 months to Bloomberg who also took me on for the next five years. There I led their outreach in Private Tech – creating events, writing & positioning the brand Bloomberg at the centre of these different TECH cities: Tel Aviv, London, Stockholm, Oslo & San Francisco.
I now have an advisory technology consultancy – continuing these pillars of growth created at Bloomberg & am scaling fast, I provide IR, PR, GR, HR & EIR to a variety of clients.

How did you end up becoming a Zapnito advisor?

I was approached by Charles, for funding help and saw the value of this business for NOTWICS.

Why is Zapnito necessary and important today?

The publishing / charging blog / media model is broken. Readers are now gravitating towards quality digital platforms & content which is what Zapnito facilitates. A platform that gives writers and editors a better voice to better engage with their audiences.

How do you see Zapnito’s business developing in the next 5 years?

It will not take the path of useless paid for channels. I think its is going to be a ‘pure platform’ - not like a boring equivalent that just churns out rubbish for the sake of content. Zapnito can be a breath of fresh air in that respect.

What in your opinion/experience is the single-most important skill in running a successful start-up?

Being honest. People think they’re amazing and they’re going to concur the world - they aren’t and they’re not in most cases. You need to be honest with yourself and build something with dedication. Solve the problem.
Time is your most valuable commodity in a start-up, waste it and you’ve wasted your business. Have fun, but don’t waste any money you raise unnecessarily.

What has been the biggest lesson you have learnt in your career to date?

Don’t trust arrogant people. They just aren’t people that have built their career the right way that can be trusted.

And what is your main career goal for the next 5 years?

Build a very successful business and sell it for millions of pounds, buy a boat and take up golf (just to annoy my wife). I’ll also add world peace and buy a football club!

If you could advocate one company to the world (aside from Zapnito & your own), what would it be and why?

Safe To Net - an amazing technology company that enables young people to safely interact with the Internet and the online community. Using AI to ensure no one is contacting kids on the Internet that shouldn’t be. It’s a great product that there is a really serious need for.

Everyone has a brilliant app idea. What’s yours?

This week’s - following a meeting in the city, something that delivers great coffee on an enterprise scale. Coffee is actually on track to become the most consumed drink in the world - making it ripe for disruption. You still get shit coffee in a number of corporate locations.

If you had £1 billion and had to invest it in only one of the following three, which would it be and why? 1. Virtual Reality 2. Artificial Intelligence 3. Renewable Energy

None - AR is what’s going to replace smartphones. Smartphones will turn into cars. AR will turn everything into a screen. It’s a thousand smartphones as you are walking or driving down a street!

Please do contact me if you would like to learn more about Zapnito or even to get in touch about my work. Chris Lowe

Christopher has an extensive background in finance, from having worked in a number of leading investment banks for 18 years.
He exited his First Start Up to Bloomberg in 2012 and ended up working for the leading Technology company for the last five years.
Here he saw the opportunity to create a Private Investor Relations and Fundraising service for Start-Up Founders.

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